


Breakthrough

by Leni



Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 16:25:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3417497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Miss Ritchi, I'm not sure you understand your position in this -"</p><p>"No."</p><p>"I can make you regret this!"</p><p>"Do your worst."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breakthrough

**Author's Note:**

> Written from Devilsduplicity at [Comment Fic](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/229400.html?thread=47660312#t83684376). Prompt: **Megamind/Roxanne, since when did pure evil learn the puppy dog pout?**

Someone had learned how to tie a reliable knot, at last.

It had been so frustrating, that time she'd slipped away on her own. She'd been an hour late to work, and no one had believed it was Megamind's fault when there was no proof of Metroman rescuing her. (She adored Metro Man, but truly, he'd single-handedly set back woman's lib by a decade!) These days Roxie didn't even try to escape until her kidnapping had been officially announced; she wasn't getting her pay docked again just because a master villain wasn't masterful at all. 

In fact, the master villain in question was proving to be an annoying pest.

"Are you serious?"

Megamind bent down until he was eye-to-eye with her. Two years ago, that would have terrified her; now Roxie just made a mental note that, in any other person, she would have liked those eyes. Or perhaps they only seemed so pretty when set against his oddly colored skin... 

Whichever the case, the look in them said that Megamind had indeed meant this bizarre proposal.

Roxie would have thrown her arms up in sheer frustration, but the ropes around her prevented the motion. Instead, she had to settle for her most impressive scowl. "You _cannot_ be serious!"

Minion, by far the more sensible villain in the room, gave one long step backwards.

"Oh, but I am!" Megamind straightened and his full-toothed grin announced one of his grand gestures. "An exclusive interview, Miss Ritchie." His right arm swept into a high arc that ended with his forefinger pointing down at himself. "And it's all yours."

The opportunity of the century.... for any reporter who hadn't spent most of her career being kidnapped by this madman. "No."

The raised arm wilted and dropped by his side. "Huh?"

"No," she repeated.

"But... The fame! The publicity! How can you not want that?"

"Yeah, right," she said, barely repressing a roll of her eyes. Sometimes he was so childish, but she refused to lower herself to his level. " _Your_ fame. _Your_ publicity. No, thanks."

Roxie had never thought she'd see the evil mastermind pout. 

But pout he did.

If he were anyone other than pure evil incarnated, she would have smiled at the puppy dog expression.

Instead she met his eye, cocked an eyebrow, and waited.

He broke first. "Whyever not?!"

He sounded so genuinely bewildered that Roxanne gave him a honest answer. "I refuse to pander to your ego; it's big enough already."

From the opposite corner of the room, came a sharp gurgle. Roxie realized she spent too much time with this pair, when she instantly recognized the sound as Minion's chuckle.

Meanwhile, Megamind kept staring at her in complete bafflement for a full five seconds. "What?"

Honestly...

"She said no," Minion said helpfully.

How long since it had been weird to see a speaking mutant fish? 

Megamind gave her a last incredulous look and shook his head. "But... but... I thought you'd be gl--- I mean. How do you dare go against my wishes?"

Roxie let out a sigh. "And there's the ego."

Minion's chuckle became a snicker, though he tried to hide it into a series of popping air-bubbles.

Megamind shot him a glare over his shoulder, which promptly made Minion take another step back, as far from them as physically possible without leaving the room. "Miss Ritchie, I'm not sure you understand your position in this -"

"No."

"I can make you regret this!"

She couldn't help the little smirk. She really couldn't. Perhaps every other citizen shivered and shuddered when Megamind threatened them, but Roxie had finally learned that he was all bluster (and leather, of course; one couldn't forget the leather). "Do your worst," she challenged him.

"Oh, I will. _Yes, I will!_ "

She waited through the maniacal laughter. It _was_ an impressive laughter, truth be told. But it lost in quality when Megamind used it as a ploy to gain time. At last, it fizzed into a series of wheezed breaths, and Roxanne kept waiting until he gave up the pretense. "Short on ideas, eh?"

Taunting the enemy was not the smartest move.

But he only glared at her. Eventually, as always, he looked away when she glared back.

"Ah." Minion interrupted the awkward silence. "Perhaps Miss Ritchie is afraid of something in particular? A trifling phobia, maybe?"

"Yeah!" Megamind shouted, pleased with the idea, and Roxanne suddenly found herself as the focus of both their attention.

"Do you really expect me to tell you?"

Their hopeful expressions said that, yes, they did.

"Of course I won't." she informed them, feeling a headache coming on. "Seriously. Why would I?"

"Such an unhelpful hostage," Megamind muttered, his accent deepening in clear signal that he was truly vexed. "I bet you aren't this difficult with your _boyfriend_."

"He's not-" She remembered in time that she owed this guy no peek into her private life. Sure, Megamind might lose interest in her and stop these weekly ordeals, but what girl wanted to admit that she was single when she could be _Metro Man's_ public love interest? (The answer, she suspected, was one Roxanne Ritchie. She still adored the man, but this was getting tiresome.) "He's not trying to scare me every time we meet."

Megamind looked insulted. "I was _trying_ to grant you an interview."

Roxie let her eyebrow go up again.

He pursed his lips. "This time," he admitted in a grumble. "Though I don't think the lions worked very well last time."

"You overfed them."

"The piranhas looked hungry enough, last month."

Actually, those had been scary, not that she needed to show it. "I should report you to the Animal Rights Association."

"You have."

Roxie thumbed mentally through the articles she'd written on this man. "Oh, right. I did." She eyed him, distrusting his sudden smug grin. "Let me guess. Another set of people completely helpless against you?"

"I stole their alligators," he crowed, clearly pleased with himself.

"The alligators." If he were anyone else, Roxie would have hated to burst his happy bubble. But, in this weird victim-villain relationship of theirs, it felt good to be able to turn the tables on him. "You mean the alligators that no zoo would accept, and whose feeding alone was straining their finances."

Now he looked stubborn. "Yes. Those," he bit out, narrowing his eyes at her, daring her to diminish his daring feat. "Perhaps I should feed _you_ to them."

Roxie shook her head. "You wouldn't."

"Aha! You _are_ afraid of them!"

"Eh... It's not like I'm fond of them..."

"You're terrified!" he cried out, grinning from ear to ear. "This is wonderful. Just wonderful! I finally have a weapon that will bend your will to my orders!"

"No," she tried to tell him. "Not really."

As ever when he believed he'd made a breakthrough in his plans, Megamind was beyond hearing her protests.

Roxie caught Minion's eye. "He really doesn't," she mouthed.

Minion gave a little shrug.

Roxie heaved a sigh. She and her big mouth. If, by next week, she found herself dangling over a pond full of overgrown reptiles, she'd have no one to blame but herself.

And Megamind, of course.

 

The End  
22/02/15


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